NME ARTISTS

Kasabian

Biography

Kasabian are an English rock band from Leicester consisting of singer Tom Meighan, guitarist and songwriter Serge Pizzorno, bassist Chris Edwards and drummer Ian Matthews. They have released five studio albums with their most recent, '48:13', released in June 2014.
Meighan, Pizzorno and Edwards were all students at Countetsthorpe Community College and, in 1997, began working together as the group Saracuse. They later changed their name to Kasabian - inspired by Linda Kasabian, the getaway driver for Charles Manson's notorious cult - and eventually released their self-titled debut album in 2004. The LP, which included the singles 'Club Foot', 'Reason Is Treason', 'LSF' and 'Processed Beats', was a Number Four hit on the UK Albums Chart.
Kasabian's second album, 'Empire', was released in 2006. During the making of the album, band member Christopher Karloff quit the group due to "artistic and creative differences". The LP gave Kasabian their first UK Number One and received a 9/10 review from NME.
The band's next two albums, 2009's 'West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum' and 2011's 'Velociraptor', both also went to Number One in the UK Albums Chart. In 2013, touring guitarist Jay Mehler left the band to join Liam Gallagher's new group Beady Eye. He was replaced by Tim Carter.
Kasabian's fifth album, '48:13', was released in June 2014. It became the group's fourth consecutive Number One album and was described by the band themselves as more "direct" and "stripped back". Shortly after releasing the album, Kasabian headlined Glastonbury 2014 for the first time.